Oakland Center for Spiritual Living

As human rights and justice are being challenged around the world, this monumental and timely collection of poetry and prose raises the voices of women of color. Join contributing authors in a presentation of All the Women in My Family Sing. In this dynamic evening, the authors will read from their essays, answer questions, and sign books.

Events are free to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Refreshments and appetizers will be provided.

Sridevi Ramanathan is devoted to empowering girls and women through relevant and revealing education that speaks to the mind and the soul. She founded Story Digs (www.storydigs.com), through which she conducts talks and workshops based on her scholarly research on mythology and folklore. She holds a master’s in teaching and is currently pursuing a doctorate in philosophy and religion with a concentration in women’s spirituality. For years, she has actively participated in programs and events that empower girls and women, including One Billion Rising and Take Back the Night. She is a writer, dancer and artist. She is profiled in the book Birthing God: Women’s Experiences of the Divine.

Meilan Carter-Gilkey holds a B.A. and an MFA in creative writing and English from Mills College. Her essays have been published in the anthology Who’s Your Mama?: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers, Mutha Magazine and the Huffington Post. She is a contributing writer for mater mea and Heart & Soul magazines. Recently, she won a James D. Phelan Literary Award for her family memoir in progress. Meilan lives in the Bay Area.

Kira Lynne Allen is an Oakland-based author, a four-time Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA) Fellow, a Poetry for the People alumna, and a phenomenal workshop facilitator. Her literary debut, Write This Second, charts her journey from desecration to divinity; from addict and high school dropout to master’s degree recipient, poet, performer, collage artist, activist, and community leader. Ms. Allen’s story is meant to inspire readers to transform their lives by finding and proclaiming their authentic selves. She has a B.A. in creative writing from Mills College and an M.A. in transformative arts from John F. Kennedy University. Check out www.writethissec.com for more information.

Dera R. Williams lives, works and plays in the San Francisco Bay Area. A retiree of a local community college, she now mentors students in family history research. This Cali girl with Southern roots is a freelance writer and contributor to anthologies, journals and academic encyclopedias and is her family historian. Dera is co-author of the fiction book Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters. She is completing a story collection about growing up in Oakland and a children’s book about Alzheimer’s disease. Her most recent publication can be found in the anthology Our Black Mothers, Brave, Bold and Beautiful.